Atlanta Braves, MLB Will See Otani in 2017 WBC
Right now, this news represents a mere tease – a toy that’s on an out-of-reach upper shelf or some one-of-a-kind technology that’s out of stock. Japanese Baseball star Shohei Otani is on the early roster for the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
The Atlanta Braves are on the prowl for starting pitching. There is no secret is saying that – and at least two new starters for the rotation are envisioned this off-season.
Exactly how that will be accomplished is not clear, but of all the prospect players in the world with aspirations to pitch in the majors, Shohei Otani is certainly – by far – the most intriguing.
This is not another Kenshin Kawakami, who had to convert to the rigors of an every-5th-day routine at age 34 after his glory days in Japan were wrapped up. This is a 22-year-old who is continuing to improve year-by-year and approaching ace-level pitching.
Oh, and he also hit .322 with 22 homers, 67 RBI and a 1.004 OPS in 382 plate appearances when he wasn’t about his day job. Yeah – he’s also an outfielder.
Otani has been named to the Japanese contingent that will represent the country next March in the 2017 edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC). It is likely that he will pitch and hit, though Otani’s manager will have a sit-down session with him to discuss how that will work.
It’s a common issue for him and one that will continue to come up until and when he is ultimately posted for transfer to a Major League club.
When will that happen? That’s the $20 million question.
NPB Posting
Otani would represent a rare commodity this off-season: a near-ace-level pitcher on the free agent market that could be locked up for his best seasons.
The posting system for Nippon Professional Baseball works something like this:
– Player notifies his team of desire to go to the MLB
– Team agrees, notifies the MLB Commissioner of the arrangement and sets a Posting Fee that they will collect for the privilege of take their star away. In this case, the fee will almost certainly be the maximum of $20 million.
– All MLB teams will to meet the price of admission are allowed to contact the player. A 30-day negotiation window then begins between the player, his agent, and all teams willing to put up the fee.
– If a deal is not made, the player stays in Japan. Otherwise, he crosses the Pacific. The winning club’s Posting Fee check is then cashed; all others are shredded.
The Speculation Part
Normally, we wouldn’t even be having a conversation about Otani until he turns 30 or so. But at age 18, there was quite the battle in Japan to determine whether he would even submit to the NPB draft or come directly to the United States.
The Dodgers put in a lot of time and effort as part of the ‘selling’ process at that time, but in the end, he was drafted by the Nippon Ham Fighters and he has now completed his 4th season there. Seems the notions of life alone on a minor league bus vs. being a near-instant star at home won him over.
But there was still speculation that part of his deal with Nippon might be that he could put in a posting request with Nippon after some point early in his career. After 4 years? 5 years? His choice? We just don’t know, and there have been no hints to date.